It’s fall, which means most theater companies in St. Louis are kicking off their 2025-2026 seasons. Here is a look at what’s graced the stage this September, including tips on what to catch and what to skip.
‘The Cottage’
American playwright Sandy Rustin takes audiences to the British countryside in 1923 in the latest play at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, “The Cottage.” In said cottage is Sylvia, who is having an affair with Beau (Jordan Coughtry). They’re wrapping things up when Sylvia announces she sent a telegram about their affair to her husband and Beau’s wife.
Soon, there’s a knock on the door, and it turns out Sylvia and Beau aren’t the only ones with secrets.
The entire production is held together with a powerhouse performance from Andrea San Miguel as Sylvia. From the opening when she’s draping herself over a chaise lounge to attractively eat grapes, San Miguel delivers a performance that is both physically lithe and perfectly emotionally pitched.
Good direction from Risa Brainin keeps the pacing up and punchlines flying. Plus, Rustin packed the script with every kind of humor (except foul-mouthed), including fart jokes, puns and sight gags. The mix might surprise some who assume bodily humor is too declasse for the theater. It’s not, though a little goes a long way. Here, there’s just a little.
Go for the laughs, and stay for the gorgeous set by Robert Mark Morgan or the sumptuous costumes from Renee Garcia. The multilayered deceit that Sylvia’s telegrams unravel comes with a fabulous wardrobe, a side of tea and a bit of female empowerment.
“The Cottage” runs through Sept. 28 at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves. Tickets are $46-$105.
‘The Wanderers’
At New Jewish Theatre, two marriages unfold on opposite ends of the black box. Schmuli (Bryce A. Miller) and Esther (Jade Cash) are Satmar Hasidic orthodox Jews, who are expected to live a certain way. Esther, though, pushes boundaries, listening to forbidden music and suggesting she get a job.
At the other end of the theater is a secular Jewish couple, Sophie (Wendy Renee Greenwood) and Abe (Joel Moses), who live in Albany. Abe is having an emotional affair with an actress he saw at one of his book talks, while Sophie is trying to restart her own writing career.
“The Wanderers” is buoyed by emotional performances, particularly from Moses, who has more stage time than Greenwood, but she makes the most of what she has in a tearful performance that captures how stultifying a moribund marriage is.
On the opposite end of the stage, Miller and Cash are more subdued in their performance. They’re convincing, but never bring you into the emotional heart of their conflict. In the end, I wasn’t sure if Esther ever liked Schmuli.
The script from Anna Ziegler tells how the choices of one generation impact another, how we get set adrift in life, and maybe how we can find ourselves later.
“The Wanderers” at New Jewish Theatre runs through Sept. 28 at the JCC, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis County. Tickets are $29.19-$60.54.
‘Classic Adventure Movie; or Never Say Die’
If you’re a fan of “Goonies” you will probably like Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble’s “Classic Adventure Movie; or Never Say Die,” a spoof of the original film with many Easter eggs to other action-adventure classics.
If you don’t know “Goonies,” you might be confused. The show features no fewer than 13 people on stage, often in overlapping scenes. The set is sparse — most scenes are set with just chairs and clever use of props, so it can get visually confusing, especially when the characters are wandering the labyrinth of an underground lair looking for treasure (the plot of “Goonies” is that it’s kids on a treasure hunt).
Conceived by Cassidy Flynn, Keating and Rachel Tibbetts and written by Keating who also stars as Chunk, the whole thing is just a few screams short of chaotic. Once you get used to the pace and the interludes, the jokes start to land (some still don’t, though so many are flying you hardly notice), and anyone would have to admit the actors are working hard on stage, particularly Keating who even has a twerk dance break in the show.
I didn’t get to see the end of the show because Kristen Strom, who was playing Mouth, was injured in a fall shortly after intermission. As a result, the show was halted and there were no shows last weekend, but it will resume on Thursday. Strom was filling in for Cassidy Flynn, who will resume the role this week.
But the show was about 15 minutes away from ending, so its safe to say I got the gist. If you find humor in the zany and chaotic, this is your show.
“Classic Adventure Movie; or Never Say Die” runs through Sept. 27 at the Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive. Tickets are $20-$25.
Open but haven’t seen: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’
Stages is tackling “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” about the life of songwriter Carole King. Despite being a woman in a male-dominated industry in the ‘60s and ‘70s, she wrote a ton of hits including “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” popularized by Aretha Franklin.
“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is at Stages through Oct. 19 at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 E. Monroe Ave, Kirkwood. Tickets are $47-$86.
Already closed: ‘Raisin’
The highlights of “Raisin” at the Black Rep included the brilliant choreography from Kirven Douthit-Boyd and the powerhouse performance from Anita Michelle Jackson, who played matriarch Lena Younger.
Unfortunately, a few things went wrong with the production, which closed Sept. 21.
“Raisin” is a musical adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which is about a Black family in Chicago at midcentury that gets a life insurance payout after its patriarch dies. Lena Younger wants to spend the money on a house and schooling for her daughter. Her son, Walter Lee, wants to invest in a liquor store and feels like they should do what he wants since he’s the man.
The Black Rep production did a lot with the material but was bedeviled by sound issues. And while Duane Martin Foster, who played Walter Lee Younger, was an energetic singer and dancer, his character never quite exuded the charm necessary for audiences to see him as anything other than an easily duped misogynist.
Overall, the musical never lifted to the brilliant heights of the play, which was in part due to the production, but also due to the material itself, which included great music but forgettable lyrics.
Next at the Black Rep, Dianne McIntyre Group: “In the Same Tongue” will run Nov. 21-22 at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 E. Monroe Ave., Kirkwood.
Stay up-to-date on what’s happening
Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Rosalind Early | Post-Dispatch
Deputy features editor
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today